Mad Love
by hufflepuffsareluff
Summary: The love story of Su Li Zhen and Theodore Nott, continued from where it left off at Evinco RPG on Greatest Journal. Spoilers up through Book 5 and AU after that.
1. The Kidnapping

**NOTE**: These characters do not belong to me, but rather, to J.K. Rowling. Their backstory can be found at http/ at http/ and at http/ This story contains spoilers up through _Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix_ and is AU after that.

* * *

**The Kidnapping

* * *

**

Li had taken to only spending time out of the Ravenclaw Common Room when the corridors were abandoned, generally during free periods or close to curfew, or when she was going to the library or classes. Though her dormmates seemed more than slightly disturbed at how solitary she had become, Li took comfort in the silence that her loneliness afforded her, especially as there was no one to whom or about whom she wished to speak but Theodore. Several people had attempted conversation with her, but Li was not particularly cooperative when they did. She felt mildly guilty for ignoring Daphne's attempts at discussing the Submergence and slightly mean for not speaking to Stephen since coming back to school, but neither feeling was strong enough for her to break the silence she'd found.

When she was completely honest with herself, Li knew that the only thing that would cause the silence to be broken would be Theodore, if he ever reentered her life.

He was always there, in the back of her mind, like the heavy necklace she'd taken to carrying with her everywhere. He'd become a haunt. A madness. An obsession. In the silence, she could always hear his voice, cool and calculating. When her eyes slid closed at night, she saw his sea green ones staring back at her. She had, on several occasions, attempted to owl him, but with little success. Whenever she did come up with a letter that she found suitable, she would spend several days arguing with herself over whether or not to mail it, and when she finally did mail it, it would go unanswered. She had tried contacting him through the journals, but with no success. Their last contact had been with regard to his father refusing to allow her to visit them, and that had been more than a month ago.

And no matter how much she tried to convince herself otherwise, Li was worried. She was terrified that, while she had been at school (an increasingly useless pursuit, she was discovering), something had happened to him, that his father's "exercises" had gone too far or that he had failed the Dark Lord in some way and was killed for his mistakes and shortcomings. Her one comfort was in the _Daily Prophet_, which she knew would surely report the killing or arrest of a known Death Eater by Aurors or Ministry officials. They had nothing to report, generally speaking, so the news of Theodore's death or arrest would make the front page, and so far, she had not been able to find it.

But that did not prevent her worry.

The only thing that could keep the fear and worry from overwhelming her was a long walk around the Hogwarts grounds, something which she did every afternoon, between the end of classes and the beginning of supper. Her usual route took her far away from the bustle of people, close to her thinking spot, near the lake, and near several nooks and crannies where she would sometimes stop and take out the necklace, with the purpose of remembering that night at her house. The details came in much more sharply and clearly than they used to, even the night following his visit. The blues and reds of the lanterns in the garden, the smell of strawberries, the feel of his lips against hers…

This was how Li passed the days of September, right through to the beginning of October. It was October 3, to be exact, and it was her eighteenth birthday. Despite her constant obsession with Theodore, she was still very flattered by the champagne truffles left on her bed by "a secret admirer" that morning. Her parents had sent her an extremely expensive set of Egyptian spellbooks, shipped directly from Cairo two days prior, and carefully hexed to protect them from anyone who might try to steal them. Each of her brothers had sent her a different piece of silver jewelry, including Jiang Fu, whose simple pendant was now around her neck, resting softly on her breastbone. She had even received cards in the post that morning, which was a new experience entirely. All-in-all, Li rated it as the best birthday she'd ever had.

It still lacked something, however, and it did not take the great mind of a Ravenclaw to guess what that thing was when she started her nightly walk about the grounds. **_After all_**, she scolded herself, rounding the corner of one of the open corridors on her way to one of the quieter nooks, **_Theodore didn't even know when your birthday was. You should be ashamed of yourself for expecting anything_**.

_I wasn't expecting anything, though_! another voice insisted from the back of her head. _I had hopes, but that's all they were—hopes. Not expectations_.

Vaguely considering for the thousandth time that she could possibly be insane, Li reached into the pocket of her robes and drew out the necklace. She stopped walking and held it up in the fading sunlight, looking at the red cameo brooch and the heavy chain carefully as if trying to read their already memorized shape and design. As she stared, however, a movement from the shadows caught her eye. Quick as a flash, Li whipped out her wand and pointed it at the shadow. "Whoever you are, show yourself!" she ordered, still clutching the necklace in her right hand. Yet what she saw caused it to slip from her fingers and hit the stone floor with a quiet tinkle.

"A bit jumpy?" Theodore asked, moving from the shadows and into the light so that Li could see him properly. "I hadn't realized that the halls of this school were so dangerous as to cause people to draw their wands at the slightest difference in scenery."

Li didn't respond. She couldn't. Any words she might have spoken at that moment seemed caught in her throat with their enormity. A weak whisper finally managed to escape her lips. "Theodore."

"Good to know that you still recognize me," he stated colorlessly and began to move closer. Before he could reach her, however, the sound of voices down the corridor caused them both to jump and draw their wands. Li stared in the direction of the voices, as Theodore spoke to her. "There is much to say, but it is not safe for me here. When they've passed, Disillusion yourself and meet me down by the Forbidden Forest, at the farthest corner of the grounds. I will wait there until seven o'clock."

She didn't hear him leave, but she knew he was gone, long before the gossiping group of Gryffindor fifth years passed by.

* * *

Despite how much she abhorred Disillusionment Charms, Li was rather proud of the one she'd produced that day. She felt rather silly, wrapped in a dark cloak and running across the windy grounds of Hogwarts to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, like the heroine of a Muggle fairy tale or some gothic romance. Her heart pounded a frantic drumbeat, and when she finally reached the edge of the Forest, she was shaking horribly. "I'm here, Theodore!" she called in a pale voice. She removed the Disillusionment Charm and pulled the hood of her cloak from her hair. "I'm here waiting."

"You're not waiting at all. You've only just arrived." There was a smirk in Theodore's voice, though she couldn't see him. "Step into the Forest, Li."

It went against her better judgment, but Li did it anyway. Part of her wished that the entire ordeal would just end there, that he would kill her or tell her that he wanted no part of their relationship anymore, but the other part wished that the Forest would open up and swallow them, taking them away from everything else to some perfect world where there was no war to make life unsafe for them. Walking forward, she saw that he was leaning against a tree, looking pale and tired, but still very handsome. She fought back the urge to run to him and throw her arms about his neck, and said in a calm voice, "What do you want, Theodore?"

"A warmer reception, for one."

Though it rarely happened, at that moment, Li's emotions got the better of her. "Oh hell, Theodore, what am I supposed to say? Perhaps you'd like to hear how terrified I've been in the last several months, wondering if you've been killed or tortured, what's happened to you, why I haven't heard from you. Or maybe you'd like to hear how I haven't been able to stop thinking about you since that night in the garden and how all I've wanted since then was to kiss you again and never let you out of my sight for a moment. Or perhaps how I feel as if I'm going mad, staring at that bloody necklace of your father's, imagining that somehow by staring at it, by touching it, I'm somehow touching you." She was breathing heavily and unconscious of the tears that had begun flowing down her cheeks in a shimmering river. "Is that what you want to hear, Theodore? That you've made me _feel_ for once in my life? That I hate you for making me feel, but that I feel as if I love you in the same breath? Is that it?"

To his credit, Theodore kept his wits about him. "Well. You _have_ been busy since we last spoke, haven't you?" he asked dryly.

Li had no response to that, except to glare at him as if she was trying to melt him with her eyes. Theodore seemed unfazed by the glare and continued to speak to her, almost arrogantly. "And aren't you wondering what I have been doing since we last spoke? Are you only concerned with your own hysteria?"

"Hysteria!" If she knew how, Li would have hexed him to death on the spot. "Is that what you think this is? Hysteria!"

"You're certainly not acting rationally."

"No! I'm not!" Li rushed forward with an angry sob and began to pound her fists against his chest as a little child having a tantrum would. "Nothing about my life has been at all rational since you kissed me that night! Nothing whatsoever! And I hate it! I hate it!"

Theodore, of course, had never seen her this way. His voice sounded more than a little surprised as he spoke her name, his hand moving to her hair. "Li…" A moment later, it had regained its usual aloof tone. "I'm not here to discuss such things with you. There are more important matters at hand."

Li pushed away from him angrily. "That's how it is with you. Always more important matters and this bloody war. Don't you feel any of the things I feel?"

He ignored her. "I've come to take you away from Hogwarts and to extend an invitation from the Dark Lord to join our ranks. If you choose not to accept His invitation, it will be several days before we can leave Hogwarts, for I will have to find another to take your place. If you choose to accept, we can leave immediately. My broom is waiting a few paces into the Forest."

His words were shocking enough to stop Li from continuing with the angry tirade she'd wanted to begin. "The Dark Lord wants me to join His forces?" she repeated shakily.

"Not you specifically," Theodore clarified. "He wanted me to come here and find recruits. I knew that no one was more up to the task than you are."

Li was mildly flattered by his comment, but the entire thing had her reeling. "Where will I live?" she asked. "I couldn't possibly live at home. My parents support the Cause, but they believe that a woman's place is to stay at home and cook and clean. They'll never take me back into the house if I join…"

"I left my father's manor several weeks ago," Theodore answered simply. "I have a small flat above a shop on Knockturn Alley. You have a place with me, should you choose to take it."

"Even if I choose not to accept the Dark Lord's invitation?"

"Do you really want to stay here?"

Li frowned at him and looked down at her hands thoughtfully. "If I do choose to accept His invitation…?"

"You will be initiated on October 13…ten days from now…with any other new members. You will receive your Mark on that day and be given your first task as well." Theodore's voice took on a more personal tone. "I won't lie to you, Li. The initiation is not easy. You may find yourself unable to tolerate it."

"I can handle a lot," Li answered him with confidence, though still not answering the invitation definitely either way. "And if I choose not to accept the invitation…"

"You may still live with me. That I will have to recruit someone else will give you a few more days to gather your things so that you can have your studies to divert you while I am about the Dark Lord's business. And, as you know, there are many ways to serve." She looked up at him to find him giving her one of his most intense looks. "One need not be a warrior to help battles to be won."

"And along with my studies, I suppose I shall still be diverted with the constant worry that this assignment will be your last—that you'll be caught by Aurors or killed?" Li wondered aloud. Without waiting for a response, she raised her head a little higher. "No, Theodore. I am not one to sit around and wait for news about housemates or lovers." She heard him inhale with a sharp hiss. "I will come with you now."

"I thought you would." Theodore, she noted, had managed to keep his voice from betraying any reaction to her decision. "We must go now. You'll be missed before too long, and I'd rather not be taken to Azkaban just yet."

"I hardly think they have a waiting list," Li observed coolly. "Let's go, then."

Without another word, Theodore took her by the hand (she felt her heart jump into her throat) and led her in a brisk walk to a quiet glade where his broom lay, waiting. Theodore didn't let go of her as he mounted the broom (now holding Li around the waist so that she sat—rather awkwardly—in his lap) and shot into the sky like a comet. It was not a moment too soon. Professor Flitwick was the first to notice Li missing, and chaos soon followed. The rumor that she had been kidnapped spread around the Hogwarts campus like a wildfire, and by the next morning, the _Daily Prophet_ spoke solid fact when it proclaimed, "RAVENCLAW GIRL KIDNAPPED FROM HOGWARTS BY DEATH EATERS; PARENTS BE WARNED." Within the week, no fewer than a dozen more students had been pulled from the school, and, scanning over the headlines, Li and Theodore were quite pleased with the panic they had caused.

* * *


	2. The Initiation

Ten days. Li wondered by October the thirteenth how ten days could concurrently seem like such a long time and like such a short time, and for completely different reasons.

On the one hand, those ten days were the longest of her life, for despite the fact that she was now living with Theodore, the horrible silence had not ended. They never even exchanged polite conversation over breakfast—or any meal, for that matter—and Li felt that the madness she thought would end with his reentrance to her life would soon consume her.

The only time he had spoken to her since the night of her "kidnapping" was the following morning. Their conversation had been brief.

…

"It seems we've created quite a stir," Theodore commented, laying down the paper across the kitchen table. Li kept a straight face as she read the headline.

" 'Ravenclaw girl kidnapped from Hogwarts by Death Eaters; parents be warned,'" she read aloud, eying a picture of Professor Flitwick trying to herd several students inside. " 'Manasi Patil, 39, chose to withdraw her daughters, seventh years Padma and Parvati Patil, immediately. "My daughters are not safe here. No one is safe here," Mrs. Patil was heard claiming as she left the school with the girls. "Other parents would be wise to take their children out of this terrible place as well." Authorities currently have no leads, and reports of the involvement of former Slytherin student Theodore Nott are unconfirmed.' Well, at least they're using their brains on this one." Li looked up, expecting at least a smirk at her quip, but Theodore did not return her gaze, and simply took the paper back when it was offered him. And that was the last they had spoken.

Theodore seemed wary of even conversing with her politely. Their meals were completely silent—any food to be had was passed without question or comment—and he never bade her good morning or good evening or good anything, as well as she could hear. For her part, Li half felt that she might as well have stayed at Hogwarts until her initiation.

The initiation was the other thing making her nearly mad with worry. Though she was confident that she could handle any trials passed her way, and was not afraid of the curses she would suffer, Li feared that the Dark Lord would see right through her and discover her every secret. Her concern for her brother Jiang Fu and her feelings for Theodore were far too close to the surface for her to hide them, she knew. For hours, every day between her escape and the initiation, she pored over ancient books, searching for some spell to bind the secrets inside of her, but none seemed strong enough to withstand the Dark Lord's power.

When the day finally arrived, Li was numb all over. She was tired of trying to avoid the inevitable and bored with trying to convince Theodore that she was deserving of his conversation. All she could logically do was wait until that night came and pray that she survive. It was nearly five o'clock when she felt a shadow move over her and looked up to see Theodore, looking more intimidating than usual in his black robe, holding a skull mask in his hand and another robe draped over his opposite arm.

"You'll need to wear this," he informed Li, thrusting the robe at her. "It's mine, so it's likely far too big for you, but it's better than nothing."

Li held the robe in her hands silently for a moment before standing and slipping it over her day robes. It was, in fact, far too big for her. The sleeves extended several inches past her fingertips and the hem pooled on the floor like a puddle around her feet. Li knew that she must look ridiculous, but she was able to reach her wand easily enough, and she knew that a simple basting spell would keep her from tripping over the hem before the evening was over. When she looked up from examining her own appearance, she saw Theodore suppressing an amused grin.

She had been silent for so long that she had to cough for several moments before she could speak. "What is it?" she finally asked.

"Nothing." The smile was gone. Theodore offered her his arm. "Come on. You don't know where we're going, and splinching yourself on the way there wouldn't exactly make the best first impression on the Dark Lord."

Li nodded silently and took his arm. In an instant, they were gone from the flat and were standing in the dusty living room of what appeared to be an ancient mansion. She felt Theodore's arm slip from her grasp, and looked sideways just quickly enough to catch him slipping into the shadows with his mask on. She looked at the shadows around her and tried to identify real shapes, but before she could make out the figures of other Death Eaters, an icy voice hissed out, "_Crucio_!" and Li fell to the ground with a scream. She felt her back arching, her fingers flexing and curling, her very bones burning with a pain that seemed it would tear her apart. She was aware of her own screaming, and vaguely aware of laughter from the shadows (though—perhaps by her own wishful thinking—she did not hear Theodore's laughter), and as she was beginning to think the torment would rip her apart, it ended. For a long moment, she lay on the ground shaking and taking shallow breaths, listening to the laughter that echoed around her. _I will not accept defeat so soon_, she thought vehemently, and stood, still trembling, with her chin held high.

"Ah. Miss Su has spirit," the icy voice spoke again. Li felt that she was certainly hearing the words of the Dark Lord himself. "Very impressive for one her age."

"Forgive me, my Lord, but I disagree." Another voice from the shadows, this one female. Though Li could not be certain, her guess was that it was none other than Bellatrix LeStrange. She clenched her jaw to prevent herself from speaking out angrily against the other woman. "She is just a girl, and she has hardly proven herself worthy yet. Many have revived quickly following the _Cruciatus_ curse."

"Very true, Bella, though I was not exactly going to grant her entry based on her survival of one curse." It was the Dark Lord, to be sure. Li managed to keep her breathing soft and even, despite her sudden excitement. It wasn't every day that a person met the Dark Lord himself. He was still speaking, now addressing the entire room. "Can anyone attest to her strengths, besides young Master Nott?" he asked. Li felt her lips tighten slightly. Theodore would hate being called that.

There was some shuffling, unsurprisingly, and Li was almost certain that no one would step forward, until a voice spoke from one of the back corners. "She is an exceptional witch. Very wise and mature for her age. My interactions with her in the journals have proven that much." Theodore's father. Li struggled to keep a look of disgust away from her face.

"Wisdom, maturity, all very important. She is your student, Severus. How is her work?" Li only barely managed to keep a straight face at that. Professor Snape—a Death Eater! This night was certainly proving to be revelatory, if nothing else.

"Her charms work is exceptional," came the familiar nasal drone Li knew so well. "I have never seen her attempt any sort of hex, but I can only assume, from her performance in my class and in others, that she would excel at any curse to which she put her mind."

He couldn't have given a more glowing recommendation. Li cleared her throat softly. "If I may be permitted to speak, my Lord...?" She felt it wise to ask permission to speak before doing so.

"You may."

"Professor Snape has never seen me attempt any sort of hex, but that does not mean that I am unversed in the art of cursing and hexing. My studies in Egyptology have resulted in my knowledge of a wide array of particularly potent curses and hexes that are relatively unknown outside of the field." A brief smile touched her lips. "You could call them my specialty."

There was some murmuring from the shadows, and the icy voice continued to speak. "Indeed. But now is not the time for showing off. Let us get to it, shall we?" A creak came from the shadows in front of her, and Li watched in silence as the imposing figure of the Dark Lord stepped out from the shadows, his red eyes boring into her. "Su Li Zhen, daughter of Su Leung Mei and Su Jing. You have four brothers, correct?"

"Three," Li answered, standing tall, knowing that she would have to admit to Jiang Fu's existence...at least, in a sense. "Jiang Fu is dead to us."

"Yes, he is a Squib. Your parents must have been pleased that you were not born so similarly unfortunate."

"Yes, my Lord."

"You think of yourself as witty. And you do not find yourself particularly inclined to declare your loyalty to me outright. Why is that?"

Li paused a moment. "I hardly think it wise at this point in time. With the Ministry still intact and things the way they stand, declaring my loyalty outright is more likely to earn me a lifetime—or almost lifetime—sentence in Azkaban, and I believe I am a great deal more useful when not in prison." She paused before adding, "My Lord."

"Logical and admirable, wouldn't you agree, Bellatrix?" The silence that followed the question was distinctly uncomfortable, and Li fought the urge to smirk at it. Bellatrix, she knew, had been sent to Azkaban for nearly fifteen years, and though she had not intended her response as an insult to Bellatrix, it gave Li a sense of power to know that she could cause such an uneasy silence. Yet the triumph was short-lived. Bellatrix stepped out of the shadows with her wand drawn.

"Admirable yes, my Lord, but worthless if she cannot perform." Bellatrix removed her hood and glared at Li. "I want to see her dance."

This time, Li was ready for the curse that was thrown her way, and met it with a decent shielding charm, or at least one that blocked the curse long enough for her to figure out what to do next. They weren't dueling exactly, but Li knew this was her chance to show what she could do. When the curse had been successfully deflected, she sent a bolt of blue light at Bella, just grazing the other woman's cheek and causing a jagged cut to appear. Before Li could react positively or negatively, Bella sent another, more powerful hex her way. Li jumped out of the way just in time and landed on her wand arm with a sickening crack. Fortunately, her wand was fine. Unfortunately, her arm was not. As Li began to sit up, groaning in pain, another _Cruciatus_ curse came her way, and she found herself on her back again, screaming. No sooner had it been lifted than she was under another one, and another, and another, for she didn't know how long. When it was finally over, she stayed on her back, shaking and sweating for a long minute, before standing, clutching her left arm with a pained expression. Bella watched her with a triumphant smile as if to say, "I will always be the best, and you will never be."

Li did not support that thought. With a fury she had previously not realized she possessed, Li raised her left arm and pointed her wand at Bella. A murmur of surprise ran through the other Death Eaters, but Bella remained nonplussed. "What are you going to do with me, little girl? Perhaps a leglocker or jellylegs jinx?" she asked, laughing. Li shook her head.

"I am going to show you my specialty," she answered and flicked her wand, not flinching at the jolt of pain that ran up her arm. Bella was still smiling calmly until she noticed a sizable lump underneath the skin of her leg. It was rock hard and it was moving, causing a most peculiar and uncomfortable sensation as it did. "That, Mrs. LeStrange, is a scarab beetle. He feeds on human flesh, and particularly enjoys feasting on the brains of any given victim..." At that, Bella clamped her hand down over her skin right above where the scarab crawled. "...but he will settle for whatever he can get." A cry of surprise and pain issued from Bella's mouth as the beetle began to burrow. "He will never stop being hungry and will continue to eat you from the inside out until I stop him."

"Or until I do." The Dark Lord's voice rang out again, and the pale and shaking Bella stopped squirming. "I see you are quite talented in this area, Miss Su. This is not the only ancient Egyptian curse you know?"

"I know almost every one, my Lord." Li was still in a rage and not afraid to brag on her accomplishments.

"Do you know one that kills a person immediately? One that does not depend on the whim of a beetle?"

Someone in the room choked a laugh into a cough, but Li stood as tall as she could and answered the question. "I do."

"Tell me, then: are you loyal entirely to me?" His red eyes bore into her, but Li did not flinch.

"I am."

"And you will do what I ask, no matter how difficult, emotionally or physically?"

"I will."

The Dark Lord looked away finally. "Bring him in," he told two Death Eaters in the corner of the room, and Li heard them going out of a doorway that she couldn't see. Turning back to Li, he said in a terrible voice, "Now, it is time to see where your loyalties lie."

The Death Eaters returned, and between them was a man, screaming in a very familiar voice. Li felt a horrific shudder go through her body as the man was brought in front of her and looked up at her in desperation. Li stared back at the face of her dearest brother, Jiang Fu, and felt a wave of nausea wash over her. It was impossible. It couldn't be him, and yet it was. She clenched and unclenched her jaw for several moments while the Dark Lord continued to speak.

"Li, your loyalty to me is to come above all else, even above the lives of the family you hold dear. For this reason, I ask that you do what your father should have done years ago, and kill your Squib brother, so that your family's good name will no longer be tainted with that stain."

The entire room was silent, except for Jiang Fu's desperate screams. Li was at a loss. She had expected something like this. She thought she had prepared herself for it, but when it came down to the moment, her hands were trembling and she found herself at a loss for words and the power to use them. She stared silently, intently at her brother for a few seconds and, for the first time, listened to what he was saying.

"Please, Li, I've done nothing wrong! I just live different! That doesn't mean you should kill me, no matter what he says! Please!" he begged. Li inhaled sharply. Jiang Fu had always been as much of a stickler for grammar as she was; he would never make even the smallest mistake, even under such dire circumstances. Shaking, Li lifted her wand and pointed it at the impostor.

"Different_ly_. You live differently," she told him. "_Avada Kedavra_."

When the curse had been performed, the effects of Polyjuice potion wore off. Li didn't care to know how they had found a sample of Jiang Fu's hair, or how they knew that she still loved him very dearly. She wanted to feel relief that the dead body on the floor belonged to someone in his late thirties with ginger hair, but had no time. As the body slumped to the floor, the Dark Lord was upon her, holding her right arm in an iron grip. She cried out as his wand touched her skin, burning the mark deep beneath, practically to her bones. It seemed to take an eternity, but when it was finally over, Li looked down at her arm in awe. **_So this is what it feels like to be something more_**, she thought.

It was only then that she realized she was trembling violently. Her legs felt as though they would give way at any moment. Li staggered and swayed, and just as it felt as though she would collapse, something outside of her forced her legs to remain stock still and strong. Something that had come in a warm rush from the right side of the room.

She accepted her mask and robes dutifully and the Dark Lord said some more things about loyalty and honor and such. And then Theodore put her hand through the crook of his arm and they apparated back to his flat.

Li was aggravated when they arrived. "Why did you do that?" she demanded.

"Do what?" He was still wearing his mask, but Li could tell that he knew what she was talking about.

"Lift it. Lift the charm right now."

"Fine." Theodore waved his wand, this time where Li could see it, and she fell to the ground, shaking violently. "Though if you think it would have gained you any respect to collapse like that in front of them, you're very desperately mistaken."

Li pushed herself into a sitting position with a huge amount of effort, her left arm still screaming in pain. "I prefer to rely on my own strength," she growled, trying to stand, but falling again and landing on her injured arm with a cry. Theodore was at her side in an instant, and with a wave of his wand, the bone was mended.

What happened next took Li far longer to process than it did to happen. Before she could say anything more to Theodore, his lips were pressed against hers in a fierce kiss and she, quickly getting over the shock of him kissing her after months of silence, could only respond in the same way. She never realized before that moment that one kiss could set off such vibrant fireworks inside of a person, or that the fireworks could consume a person so entirely that the entire world disappeared in a blaze of golden light.

…

But when she awoke the next morning, tangled in only the blanket he'd pulled down on top of them when the fireworks had faded into a gentle glow, he was gone.


End file.
